long-term weight loss

effiek91

So I have 16 months before the wedding, and therefore I have 16 months to lose about 25-30 pounds (I would be down to my weight of about 4 years ago and IMO my ideal weight). Therefore, this can't be a sudden weight loss and then I gain it all  back, it has to be a long-term keeping it off type thing. I like running, and so in the warmer months (I live in NE Ohio) I usually can get myself into a habit of running several times a week, but for winter I feel like I should focus more on healthier eating and core and strength work (I have some yoga and pilates DVD's). Did or does anyone else have a long engagement they are trying to lose weight over, and how did it go, did you keep it off even after? With me having so long should I even bother tracking my weight yet or focus on getting into better habits, I am the kind of person that gets discouraged by not seeing scale results, and I have been known to stop working out mid-week just because I missed one day (call it OCD or just being lazy I don't know). I really want to do it right, and I want to get my habits formed now because I'll be starting grad school in August, which is a huge time commitment and stress inducer, and when I stress I eat comfort food, bleh I know, I should stop that...

MayDay513

I'm already married. But from engagement to now has been about 18 months. I definitely believe in life style change. This can look like eating cleaner, drinking less alcohol, drinking more water, and being more physically active.

Things that helped me were "Myfitnesspal" I used for tracking food and activity. You could start with "losing .5 pounds". I would set goals for physical activity example: mine was to go to the gym 4 times a week, which has now turned into work out 4 times a week, because over the weekend I went running outside instead of going to the gym.

I'm a smaller built person, so the number on the scale has changed very little, but I can notice muscle tone, and like I'm losing inches around my waist.

justcallmesamson

effiek91 said:

So I have 16 months before the wedding, and therefore I have 16 months to lose about 25-30 pounds (I would be down to my weight of about 4 years ago and IMO my ideal weight). Therefore, this can't be a sudden weight loss and then I gain it all  back, it has to be a long-term keeping it off type thing. I like running, and so in the warmer months (I live in NE Ohio) I usually can get myself into a habit of running several times a week, but for winter I feel like I should focus more on healthier eating and core and strength work (I have some yoga and pilates DVD's). Did or does anyone else have a long engagement they are trying to lose weight over, and how did it go, did you keep it off even after? With me having so long should I even bother tracking my weight yet or focus on getting into better habits, I am the kind of person that gets discouraged by not seeing scale results, and I have been known to stop working out mid-week just because I missed one day (call it OCD or just being lazy I don't know). I really want to do it right, and I want to get my habits formed now because I'll be starting grad school in August, which is a huge time commitment and stress inducer, and when I stress I eat comfort food, bleh I know, I should stop that...

This is hard thing, but try not to get too hung up on exercise.  It's important, but very secondary to diet.  If you're eating a lot of junk food there's just no way to burn it off in the gym.  For example, and hour on treadmill might burn 400-500 calories, which is like 2 slices of pizza.  

I used to be the same way- wearing myself out in the gym every day and not seeing good results, and it was because I didn't change my eating habits much.  As soon as you clean up your diet those pounds will fall off.  

Something that helps keep me from falling off the wagon is changing up my routine.  I do bodypump, dance, yoga, pilates, weight lifting, then in the summer I'll add a bunch of outdoor activities.  I really look forward to my dance class because I only get to go to it once a week, versus seeing it as a chore when you're just pounding away on the treadmill after work every day.  

effiek91

Your treadmill comment was spot on, I love to run and challenge my previous records, but it definitely does become something you can dread when you HAVE to do it every day. I am becoming a huge fan of mixing it up, and it sounds like you've completely mastered that! Thanks for the ideas!

kla728

What are you going to grad school for / will you be working as well?  I'm currently in school for my Masters in Public Administration -- graduating in August, getting married in October -- and work FT.  Its a huge balancing act, and I'm admittedly a bit of a crazy person (in a fun sense, I swear), but I lost 30 lbs last year while juggling all of this.  I use MyFitnessPal, which I love.  The two biggest things for me are 1. making the time for exercise / focusing on the reality that it is a huge stress reliever and thus keeps me on track and 2. planning meals in advance -- leaving the house in the AM with lunch AND dinner is hard, because it means you had all those leftovers and sandwich ingredients ready from the weekend, but it is the only way I can stay within calorie goals and be mindful of what I'm eating.  I am kind of plateauing right now, but I also just went back from taking a part time course load to being a FT student again and basically just want to stay where I'm at through May and then I can really try and tackle the other 10 or so lbs.  Stress eating is my biggest enemy, so having the accountability with MFP is a big help... not fun to admit you ate a bunch of junk food, binged on take out, etc.  My fiance was doing MFP with me last year, but he has kind of fallen off the bandwagon.  However, my immediate family was so proud of us (he lost 50 lbs!) that they are using it too so I still have some support on there.

Good luck!  You can definitely do this!

WildMagelet

effiek91 said:

So I have 16 months before the wedding, and therefore I have 16 months to lose about 25-30 pounds (I would be down to my weight of about 4 years ago and IMO my ideal weight). Therefore, this can't be a sudden weight loss and then I gain it all  back, it has to be a long-term keeping it off type thing. I like running, and so in the warmer months (I live in NE Ohio) I usually can get myself into a habit of running several times a week, but for winter I feel like I should focus more on healthier eating and core and strength work (I have some yoga and pilates DVD's). Did or does anyone else have a long engagement they are trying to lose weight over, and how did it go, did you keep it off even after? With me having so long should I even bother tracking my weight yet or focus on getting into better habits, I am the kind of person that gets discouraged by not seeing scale results, and I have been known to stop working out mid-week just because I missed one day (call it OCD or just being lazy I don't know). I really want to do it right, and I want to get my habits formed now because I'll be starting grad school in August, which is a huge time commitment and stress inducer, and when I stress I eat comfort food, bleh I know, I should stop that...

FI & I have been working towards lifestyle changes.  I have been focusing on adding more mild daily activity (extra dog walks, a few minutes of free weights, calisthenics, etc.) while majorly focusing on foods.  Adding regular more strenuous activity is a longer-term goal once I get the current changes down.

I haven't been counting calories (although my FI has) but I have been focusing on food as a whole.  We've only been buying foods that we consider beneficial to our weight-loss and pick one day a week to empty out something "bad" from the pantry.  We keep a lot of variety of snacks on hand that are convenient to keep us going between meals.  Greek yogurt, 2 oz lunchmeat packs (90 cal), 2-3 kinds of fresh fruit, granola bars, etc.  We've also severely cut back on eating out (our interim goal is less than once per week) and soft drinks.  We've been buying a lot of 0 calorie water flavoring to keep the beverages interesting.

So far so good.  Some weeks are better than others but I managed to lose weight between Thanksgiving and New Years so I definitely consider that a win!

Keep with the scale and/or measurements if that is more your speed.  Just remember that some progress is still progress and that everybody has bad weeks.  Use the numbers to keep yourself in check (on a stall week or bad week, what could you have done differently?) and motivated.

Good luck!  You can do it!

justcallmesamson

kla728 said:

planning meals in advance -- leaving the house in the AM with lunch AND dinner is hard, because it means you had all those leftovers and sandwich ingredients ready from the weekend, but it is the only way I can stay within calorie goals and be mindful of what I'm eating.  

I've had the same experience. Meal planning has made it such a breeze to stay within calorie goals, and also to make sure that I get enough protein. It does take a little extra work- I get up 30 minutes earlier every morning so that I have time to prep and pack food- but so worth it.

claudialrodas

What I could suggest you is that you follow a regime where you could lose maximum amount of calorie right from the start of the day, try having a breakfast starting with a warm glass of water with either honey or lemon added, it would help you lose maximum amount of weight during the whole process, try to cut fats from your diet even rice add more amount of carbohydrates to your food. Try to drink a lot of water and hope it will help you a lot.

vh2014

I added the elliptical in the mornings and I love it... but only because I love to read and I bring my Kindle.  A few times I have even worked out LONGER because I was in the middle of a good chapter.  I only let myself read those books when I am working out so it's a big reward to lose myself in the book.

I also changed the way I eat.  I went to nutrition.gov and used the supertracker for a few weeks to get a feel for what I was eating and I made a plan for what I SHOULD eat.  We went out to eat the past weekend and I realized it really has been a lifestyle change- I got super excited when the restaurant had steamed spinach and I think I enjoyed it more than my steak.  My tastebuds may have actually changed.   And I still keep things like girl scout cookies in, I just eat less of them- like 2 and a glass of milk is a late night snack. 

So far this approach has been a steady weight loss of 30 lbs.  Still have some to go, but I haven't gained a single week and I only had one week where I remained the same.